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I recently considered cutting my hair off. I tend to consider this from time to time but I was a bit more serious than usual almost to the point of making an appointment. Instead I decided to try a homemade shine mask for my hair first to see if I could bring a little health back to the ends. To my surprise the shine mask worked. I think the reason I was so surprised that it made a difference is because it is made with ingredients from my kitchen. Since this is so easy and worked so well, I thought I’d share it with you. Enjoy!

(By the way, I decided not to cut my hair… for now. Hopefully it sticks for a while. I tend to get bored and want to change it but I really do want super long hair.)

Ingredients:

1 egg

4 TBSP yogurt

2 TBSP coconut oil (or olive oil)

1 TBSP of lemon juice

Directions:

Crack egg into a bowl and beat extremely well with a whisk (to the point where the top layer has bubbles). Add in the yogurt, coconut oil and lemon juice and whisk once again extremely well. Massage into dry hair. If you have a dry scalp then massage mask into the scalp. Otherwise avoid getting the mask on the scalp and concentrate on the length of your hair. Let sit for 20 minutes (clip up or put into a shower cap to avoid dripping). Rinse through with water only. Shampoo and condition as normal.

How many of you have taken the plunge to bleach your hair only to end up with an orange dried mess? I’ve gone the bleaching route but only twice. The first time was not a problem; the second time, not so much. My hair is dark brown; almost black so going light for me can be very tricky. On the plus side, my hair is very thick and course so it can usually handle a good bit of abuse.

The Dryness Issue:
Before I explain what happened with this last bleaching experience, I will say that I have an unusual distaste for tangly, dried hair. I like hair that looks and feels healthy. So, the adventure begins. I went to a new salon and stylist to get a mix of ombre and balayage. At first I liked the look, but that affinity faded quickly. The more I washed my hair the more orange, tangly and dry it got (and I never even blow dried or used heat). I began trying everything under the sun to soften the ends (where it was bleached). I tried special (hard core) conditioner you wash out, hot oil treatments, leave in conditioner, smoothing oils, etc. The list goes on and on. In utter frustration, I got 5 inches of my hair cut off because the ends were in such bad shape. Luckily, my hair was down to my hips so I had some length to spare. The cut did not help much. My ends were still dry straw, YUCK! I reached out to a friend to ask if she had any ideas and she brought me to the section in Wal-Mart typically for African women and showed me a product, B&B Tropical Roots, that her daughter uses who has thick, course hair similar to mine. I was willing to try anything and at $5 a bottle it was worth it!

Dryness Solution:
Here is my process. I used the B&B Tropical Roots as a hot oil treatment by putting the entire bottle in a cup of nearly boiling water and heated it up for about 15 minutes. Once heated, I worked the oil into my dry hair soaking it completely (only on the bleached parts). I then clipped my hair on top of my head and put a shower cap on so that I didn’t drip any oil on my clothes and let it sit for 45 minutes. After that, I simply shampooed and conditioned. The before and after picture above shows the drastic difference. I couldn’t believe it. It worked!

*Only use Tropical Roots oil if you have very thick and course hair. This product will not work for fine and/or thin hair.

Orange Color Solution:
I finally found something to overcome the dryness. Now onto the issue with the orange color. I was faced with two options; one, bleach further to lift the orange color to a blonde or two, dye back to my natural color. Since I was not willing to bleach and damage my hair any further, I chose to dye my hair back to my natural color by using an oil based non-ammonia box color (Garnier Nutrisse or Garnier Olia). Once again, success! (first image above)

*If you color right after doing the oil treatment, your hair may be very greasy until you wash it. Pony tails are your friend!

After much fretting, the problem was solved. Never, never, never again will I bleach or lighten my hair. I like my healthy, silky, smooth and manageable hair way more than I like trying a different color.

Want to dress up a plain tee? Why not add a simple trim of lace. This was probably the easiest and quickest project I’ve ever done and I love the results. Plus, I can actually get away with wearing a t-shirt to work. Woo hoo! That’s a huge win. Hey, it’s all about the little things. Below are the steps to recreate.

Simply measure the lace to go from seam-to-seam across the front of the tee.

My little brother is getting married this year to the absolute sweetest girl! I am beyond excited for the both of them. Recently, I saw this package sitting on the counter and took it upon myself to examine it because I noticed the cute “Earl and Jo” wording on the side with the wedding date beneath. After looking at all sides and telling JoAnna how cute it was, I pick up a bottle and saw the sweetest and most unexpected question, “will you be my bridesmaid?” I squealed and of course I said and big YES! I get to stand up for my soon-to-be sister and I am beyond honored. And let’s be honest, this idea is probably the cutest thing I’ve ever seen; definitely Pinterest worthy! Now onto picking out a wedding and bridesmaids dress.

Ok, so I am definitely on a Dolly kick lately. I’ve purchased 6 Dolly Parton vinyl’s within the last month alone. I grew up listening to old country; Kenny Rogers, George Jones, Alabama, Oak Ridge Boys, and of course, Dolly Parton. Listening to these old songs especially on vinyl just feels good; it feels right and in a weird sort of way, it feels like home.

I’ve made many hand painted shirts over the past couple of years, so I thought I’d use this same technique to make a Dolly shirt. Here are the instructions. Enjoy!

I don’t know about you, but I get tired of juggling my laptop in hand back and forth from the office along with the ten other things that I tend to carry to and from work as well. Basically, I have a crap load of stuff to carry so I decided to make a cross body laptop bag to carry my most important commodity. Here are the materials and step by step instructions. Enjoy!

I am not one to spend a bunch of money on anything especially a purse. I have been eyeing the Longchamp Le Pliage French nylon bag for some time now. Because it seemed to be the perfect purse for me, I almost, just almost, spent over $100 for this bag. Luckily, I came to my senses, put the purse down, and decided to make one for myself. It’s not exactly like the original but close enough. The coolest thing is that I had all the supplies at home so essentially it cost me nothing. At the time the supplies were purchased, the materials probably cost less than $10. Ten dollars is much better than $125! Check on the pics below.

This past weekend was my girl, Danica’s, senior prom. She was by far the prettiest girl I had ever seen. We spent hours at the salon to get the perfect hair up do and it turned out perfectly. Danica is the type of girl that is just naturally beautiful and doesn’t need make-up therefore she never wears any. For prom, she decided to do it up right. All I can say is wow! There are no words to fully express how amazing she truly looked. All I can say is that she is the most beautiful girl in the world. No one even comes close. I am so very proud of the young lady she has become. This past weekend really proved to me that this is exactly what she has become. I’m simply in awe of her.

It has began; the beginning of the end. How did we even get to this place? My baby girl, the love of my life, is 18 and going to her senior prom with her boyfriend of nearly two years. So, yes, this is the beginning of the end. First, there’s prom, then it’s graduation and then she moves out and goes to college. All I know is that, at this point, it is certainly hitting me harder and earlier than I expected. It almost feels like someone is slowly pulling my heart away from my body. Uhhh, and here we go. We embark on this new journey of my little girl moving away into adulthood. What can I say? I love her to the moon and back.

One foot of hair chopped off! I knew it was the right decision when the hairdresser chopped off that long pony tail and my first reaction was, “thank God!”. It was time; time to lighten the load. Time to get rid of the extra weight. Time to unload the burden. It just feels great!

Do you have an old tee (or seven) in the bottom of the drawer that you don’t wear anymore? I certainly do. I saw this cute Anthropologie tee the other day (that is no longer for sale) and realized it would be pretty easy to make since it is simply a refashion or upcycle of an old t-shirt. The shirt only took about 30 minutest to make and I was able to make it with items I already had at home. Here are step-by-step instructions. Enjoy!